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7 Productivity Tips for Salespeople

Productivity is a big word.
It’s business definition is: “a measure of worker efficiency, such as one hundred units per hour”

Given the fact that we’re all are juggling through various tasks on our work and personal life, successful people are in constant search for ways to increase and improve productivity in order to do more in less time.

Below is a list of simple and doable productivity tips. Following this list will improve your productivity and help you get things done.

1. Keep your Emails short

This title is self explanatory. If you want to get more response from your outgoing emails, keep them short and simple. Cut out all the fluffy words and get used to writing short, condensed emails which can be easily understood and answered.

“How to write a five-sentence email…Whether UR young or old, the point is that the optimal length of an email message is five sentences. All you should do is explain who you are, what you want, why you should get it, and when you need it by.” By Guy Kawasaki

2. Manage your Email wisely

Emails are important. We can all agree on that. However, if you let your email take control on your workflow, you’ll find yourself working on things you did not plan to do and important tasks will be postponed.

I won’t cover all of these here, you can do that on your own later. I’ll just add this tip: don’t open your emails if you don’t have the time to read them. And if you did read an email, respond immediately and get it over with.

3. Shorten your meetings

When scheduling meetings, sales related or any other business related meeting for that matter, keep it short and precise.
The benefit here is immediate, it’s easier for prospects to accept shorter meetings as it won’t take too much of their precious time. Furthermore, it will make sure the meeting is focused exactly on your agenda. You can always extend a successful meeting, or schedule a followup meeting but can never take back lost time.

And one more thing, you can begin with stating the time slot for this meeting. It will add focus and a sense of importance to the meeting.

4. Improve your closing rate

“80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after the meeting. 44% of salespeople give up after 1 follow-up.”
Source: The Marketing Donut.

To which group do you belong? Remember, persistence is key here..

You can always give up on a lead/prospect, just make sure you’re certain it’s lost before you actually let it go.
Getting a new lead is more expensive and difficult than any existing lead on your CRM, therefore, you need to get the most out of your pipeline.

5. Close bad leads quickly

Keep your pipeline clean and focused. Make sure that only potential customers are on it.

Your goal for a first call to any incoming lead is to identify if they indeed belong to your sales funnel. Removing bad leads quickly helps stay focused and not waste time on futile efforts.

6. Talk about your competitors

By definition, a fully qualified lead is going to buy…Either from you or your competitor.

On your sales calls with prospects, don’t be afraid to talk about your competitors.
Ask your prospects who else is calling on them and if there’s an immediate threat, make sure you respond in time with a counter offer, adapted to the current status.

7. Invest in analytics

“Knowledge is power” – The more you know on your prospects will help you close more deals in less time.

Analytics or BI tools can analyze your communication data to serve up powerful daily actions so you can sell smarter and close more deals.

Summary

Researches show that Sales people spend only 24% of their time actively selling… Meaning, there is a lot of room for improvement on your workflow.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you follow all the tips or just take a notion of the tips, as long as you keep in mind that the more time you spend on actively selling, your chances of making more money ( and feeling accomplished ) grows. Good luck!

About the author: Ohad Oren is Co-Founder and COO of ONDiGO. Prior to ONDiGO he Co-founded several start-ups. Ohad has years of experience in Sales and Business Management. You can follow him on twitter on @OrenOhad

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Ohad Oren

Ohad Oren is Co-Founder and COO of ONDiGO. Prior to ONDiGO he Co-founded several start-ups. Ohad has years of experience in Sales and Business Management. You can follow him on twitter on @OrenOhad
View all posts by Ohad Oren